Patrick Edward Connor

Patrick Edward Connor (17 March 1820-17 December 1891) was a US Army Brigadier-General during the American Civil War and Plains Indian Wars.

Biography
Patrick Edward Connor was born in County Kerry, Ireland in 1820, and he emigrated to the United States before enlisting in the US Army in 1839. He served in the First Seminole War before becoming a naturalized citizen, and he went on to serve as a lieutenant during the Mexican-American War, suffering a hand wound at the Battle of Buena Vista. On 22 January 1850, he traveled to California during the Gold Rush, and he took part in the successful hunt for Joaquin Murrieta, killing him and three other bandits. When the American Civil War broke out, he rose the 3rd California Infantry Regiment and led it to Utah, protecting the overland routes from Native Americans and preventing the Mormons from rising up. On 6 August 1862, he became commander of the District of Utah, establishing Camp Douglas at Salt Lake City. In October 1863, he made peace with the hostile Indians in Utah after the Bear River massacre, and he founded The Union Vedette newspaper, a much-needed balance of news unavailable through the LDS Church's Deseret News. He protected non-Mormons and those who left the LDS Church, and he reported valuable mineral wealth in Utah, leading to gradual non-Mormon immigration. In 1865, he led the punitive Powder River Expedition against the Indians, but his troops were demoralized due to the end of the Civil War and their desire to return home. He was mustered out in 1866 and recruited Confederate veterans to fight Indians in the west, and he founded the Utah town of Stockton, named for his "Stockton Blues" militia unit in California. He died in 1891 at the age of 71.